“The bed is yours.”

Even when he was sick, he tried to offer me the bed, but I flatly refused.

“No, thank you. In a mansion as dangerously unpredictable as this one, who knows what kind of accident could happen while I’m sleeping?”

To be honest, I didn’t really trust Lee Seol-won enough to share a room with him. Still, compared to the men outside – whom I couldn’t even tell if they were beasts or humans – Lee Seol-won, who couldn’t even control his own body properly, seemed relatively safe.

“I’m going to take a shower. Does the sound of running water bother you as well?”

“No.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“I was just wondering where you learned that song earlier.”

Well, it was understandable that he found it strange that Eun-sae, an American, was singing not a pop song but a traditional Korean taryeong.

“I learned it at the Korean Cultural Center I went to as a kid.”

I brazenly made that up and went to the bathroom.

The bathroom was equipped with basic toiletries, a large towel, and a one-size-fits-all bathrobe. But there was only one, so it was first come, first served.

In any case, even if Lee Seol-won’s insides were a mess from the codeine, he still looked perfectly fine on the outside. He probably wasn’t as desperate for a shower as I was – after all, I had just come out of the bathtub looking like a drowned corpse.

I began removing the jewelry hanging all over my body and placed them on the shelf above the sink. Bracelet, ring, then necklace – I went up one by one. Just as I reached for the earring on my right earlobe – “Huh?”

No matter how hard I fumbled, I couldn’t feel anything. Startled, I looked in the mirror.

Seeing it with my own eyes made it even clearer. The lobe where the earring should’ve been was completely bare – somehow, without me noticing, it had fallen off.

Where did I lose it?

I’d bought the new earrings and put them on just before coming here, so I must have lost them somewhere in this mansion…

I retraced my steps in a hurry. From the garden, where I had that scuffle with the staff inspecting my belongings, to the first floor, where I had run around trying to avoid Purple Lean, and finally to the second floor – which had been the most chaotic – I had wandered around every corner of this place.

The area to search was far too large. It felt overwhelming.

If I had to pick a place where I was particularly out of it…

Could it have fallen in the bathtub?

It would have been better if I’d lost it somewhere else. With all the drugged people taking off their clothes left and right, expensive accessories were probably scattered all over the place – not just mine. It didn’t even feel like a loss. I hadn’t bought them with my own money, and the jewels had been acquired in such a disturbing way that I hadn’t planned to wear them after today anyway.

But if I lost them in the bathtub…

A wave of fear washed over me.

Wouldn’t they have been suspicious if they had found a single earring under a dead woman’s body?

Even if I wanted to go back and check it out now, it would already be time for Lee Jae-kwang and his friends to clean up the crime scene. Instead of retrieving it, I might end up drawing attention to myself by lingering around awkwardly.

After some internal conflict, I made a decision.

I’d just play dumb. After all, Lee Seol-won was the only person who’d seen my earrings.

I washed myself with warm water to calm my nerves. Once my mind began to settle, I quickly washed my clothes with shampoo and hung them out to dry. With the heated floor, they’d be dry before morning. I wasn’t sure if it was right to treat such an expensive dress like this, but I figured it didn’t matter – I wasn’t going to wear it a second time anyway.

When I came out, Lee Seol-won was already lying there without even flinching. His complexion was definitely bad. Even when I moved around the room making noise, he didn’t regain consciousness at all.

It was hard to tell if he was asleep or just unconscious from the effects of the drug.

I thought about trying to shake him awake, but decided against it. He’d already looked so miserable when he was awake – better to let him rest now, even if he was under the influence, than to wake him up and make him suffer again. At least this way he could escape the pain for a while.

I watched the rise and fall of his chest to check his breathing. His breathing rate was in the normal range.

Although he had shown some symptoms, he didn’t seem to be experiencing the kind of severe bad trip that the woman had.

Judging from that, the amount of Purple Lean he had consumed probably wasn’t enough to cause any critical health problems.

That was good enough.

Still, just in case, I sat down in a chair to keep an eye on him a little longer.

“What’s wrong with me now?”

Maybe it was the sudden silence after spending all day in what felt like the eye of the storm. Out of nowhere, all the strength drained from my body and my limbs began to shake uncontrollably.

Hyun Seo-hae, don’t tremble. You don’t have the luxury of falling apart yet. Don’t relax, stay alert. Just because things seem calm doesn’t mean you’re safe. Not until you get out of here.

I called my name silently, trying to keep myself in check. It was a habit I’d picked up after taking on Eun-sae’s persona.

Even Lee Seol-won hadn’t been able to let his guard down in this mansion.

— “My companion is just a bit shy by nature.”

Looking back, there were things that seemed different to me now.

Lee Seol-won had responded to Lee Jae-kwang’s provocation with a calm and indifferent attitude when he pulled me close with his calm voice, holding my trembling body against his chest and pressing the back of my head so that I couldn’t move.

But because of the strength of the hand holding my head, I couldn’t even turn it all the way around.

Didn’t this mean that he was much more afraid than he let on?

This was the kind of place that justified such fear.

To be honest, even the thought of returning home scared me.

I still couldn’t fully comprehend what I had seen and experienced here – it didn’t feel real.

Even now, it felt like a dream. A terrible nightmare, the kind you don’t want to see again.

I didn’t think I would be able to take even the simplest painkiller for a while.

After a full day of being tortured by drugs like Purple Lean, cocaine, and ketamine, I was thoroughly sick of anything that resembled medication.

And then… Again.

“Wake up.”

“Sae, Hyun Eun-sae.”

“Hyun Eun-sae, it’s time to wake up.”

A man’s voice reached me through my sleep. I jerked awake in shock.

The first thing I saw was Lee Seol-won’s profile as he stood by the window looking out. Beyond his calm expression, a bluish dawn was breaking.

For a moment I was disoriented by the unfamiliar scene. I blinked dazedly, and as the memories of the previous night flooded back, I sat up abruptly.

It was incredible to think that I had fallen asleep in a tiger’s lair.

I didn’t even know when I had been put to bed – I had just slept like the dead.

How was that possible?

And it wasn’t as if I had been thrown onto the bed carelessly.

My head was properly resting on the pillow, and the blanket was neatly pulled up to my neck.

Even the robe’s knot was still intact – tied just as tightly as the night before to keep the front from opening.

It was only after I confirmed that no one had touched my body that the pounding in my chest finally began to ease.

Once I was sure that I was unharmed, my thoughts turned to him.

Compared to before I’d fallen asleep, his complexion had improved.

He wasn’t mumbling incomprehensible things anymore.

If he was the one who’d carried me to bed, he must have regained enough strength to move on his own.

Waking up and facing him with a clear head was unexpectedly uncomfortable.

We’d been through too much yesterday.

We had both inadvertently seen too much of each other’s raw, unfiltered selves – and shown too much.

“What ti-“

My throat had gone dry. I quickly cleared it with a cough to steady my voice.

“…What time is it?”

Lee Seol-won looked at his watch.

“Six thirty.”

My goodness.

I hadn’t realized it was that late.

It wasn’t just twenty or thirty minutes – I had been out for three whole hours.

I was shocked at myself for sleeping as if I’d passed out.

So Lee Seol-won must have nodded off for a moment, then woke up, found me slumped in the chair, and swapped places with me.

He was the one who was sick, so why…

“Why are you up already?”

Was it really okay for him to move like that?

Worried, I looked him over from head to toe.

I had seen too many things last night – things I’d rather not have seen.

Did he even remember what he said to me?

It had only been three hours. The drugs couldn’t have worn off completely.

Was the world still melting and swirling in strange colors for him, even now?

“Aren’t you going home?”

“The car’s here?”

I snapped awake.

Still half asleep, I had been sitting on the bed – but as soon as I heard that, I threw off the blanket and practically tumbled out of bed. He gave a small, amused smile at the sight.

“Driver Yoon is waiting at the entrance.”

It was the news I had been waiting for all night. It was finally time to leave this miserable mansion behind. A wave of relief and liberation washed over me.

“Just a minute. I just need to wash my face.”

Yes, better to be sick at home than here.

That must be why Lee Seol-won, despite not having rested properly, pulled himself together to wake me up.

I left in a hurry. I didn’t want to stay here a second longer.

I hastily washed up, barely splashing water on my face, and quickly threw on my wrinkled clothes.

I looked completely worn out, almost pitiful – but it didn’t matter.

“Let’s go. Now.”

“Hyun Eun-sae.”

Just as I finished getting ready and was about to walk out without looking back, Lee Seol-won called out to stop me.